Mohican's Pains and Gains

Saturday May 28^th Travis and Sam meet at the Mohican State Forest office. Travis travels from Dayton, some 2.5 hours away, and Sam comes from Kent, with a shorter drive at 1.5 hours. The plan was to meet at the State Forest office (read self-serve kiosk) around 12:00 pm, so that they could claim one of the 10 primitive campsites. With it being Memorial Day Weekend, they were hoping that there would still be a site available.

Travis is first to arrive. He finds the campsite sign up list, and with only two campsites to choose from he picks campsite #7. Shortly after, Sam arrives. The campsite is 'Park and Pack' and will only be accessible from the trail. Not wanting to ride the trails fully-loaded, they find a parking lot and trailhead close to their site. They park and gear up their rigs. They easily find the trailhead. The bike trail is unidirectional (flowing counter clockwise) and according to the park map they will need to ride against the grain for 0.3 miles to find campsite #7. 

Travis and Sam geared up and ready to find camp

As soon as they enter the trail, there is a rider swiftly riding (the proper direction) past them. Travis and Sam quickly move off the trail in deference to this rider. He slows down and says, “You do know the trail flows counter clockwise, right?” Sam quickly replies,“Yes, sorry. We're just going point three miles to our campsite.” The rider shouts back congenially, “no problem, I just wanted to make sure you knew.” And he pedals away as quickly as he came. Travis and Sam continue in the wrong direction on the bumpy single track, hoping not to come to blows with oncoming traffic. They don't, and eventually they cross a narrow clearing in the woods running perpendicular to the trail, a cleared vector for a power line, or in this case an underground pipeline. At this point they are wondering if they have already passed their camp site. Or maybe, it is still further ahead. Not wanting to continue trekking perilously in the wrong direction any longer than needed, they consult the map. The map is of little use. They cross check it with Google Maps. After deciding that they probably passed it by and that they should turn around, Travis looks down the pipeline clearing and spots a sign for campsite #7.

The sign has an arrow pointing down the hill, following the clearing. They gingerly descend, dodging ankle-high plants and bumpy ruts in the grass. After 75 feet they spot another sign for campsite #7 with an arrow pointing down the hill. This is truly confounding. Why would the site be so far off the trail? And why would it be in this clearing, down this hill? It seemed like an odd place for a camp site. Sam argues that there is no reason for them to continue looking down the hill. It is now approaching 1:45, and Sam pleads that they just find a suitable place to camp, regardless if it is actually #7. Travis is a little resistant to this idea. He says, “Well, I put my name down on #7, I want to find it.” Sam is a little annoyed. They decide not to go any further down the hill. But if #7 isn't here, what exactly are the signs pointing to? As they walk their bikes back up the hill, they look to the right and spot a suitable break in the edge of the woods; they wonder aloud if this is in fact it. They make their way back up to the trail, continuing to talk about which way on the trail the site is. And then Sam's persuasion works. “Travis, I don't see any reason to look further. Let's just camp at that break in the woods.” Travis acquiesces, and they walk back to the spot. Travis enters first, and then Sam. They see that there is a fire ring there. And upon further inspection they spot an auxiliary space with a fire ring and an arrangement of logs for fireside sitting. They realize they are in fact at a campsite, probably #7.

With the tent set up and camp made, Travis is almost ready to ride

They set up camp, unload extra camping weight, and then start their afternoon single track ride. The sun is out and the humid heat reaches above 80 degrees.

The Mohican Mountain Bike Trail is considered an 'intermediate to difficult' trail. It is an approximately 25 mile loop of winding and flowing single track trail. Along the way there are many tough climbs and some harrowing descents. The trail is tight and littered frequently with knobby roots.

Travis and Sam are off, enjoying the ride without their camping weight. Travis is undoubtedly in better physical shape and he is also has much more mountain biking experience. Sam is a more experienced road cyclist who happens to smoke a pack a day. So it's no surprise when Travis pulls ahead. After each climb he waits for the sluggish Sam to catch up. After a few miles of this, Sam yells out, "Travis, just go on without me." And for the next few hours they ride apart.

They started riding at mile 13. Sam is enjoying the ride but struggling. Travis is riding with a camel back hydration pack, probably 4 liters of water. Sam only is riding with two full water bottles. By mile 18 Sam is out of water. He is carrying a water filter, but riding on the ridges doesn't provide access to running streams or rivers. Sam is dehydrated and by mile 19 he sends a text message to Travis that he will be stopping his ride at the main campground, which is at mile 25. There he hopes to find water and road access that will allow him a gentler ride back to camp.

Sam is out of water. He rests at mile 19, wishing he wasn't so thirsty

Travis has water and snacks aplenty and he is really killing it on the trail. As he approaches the campground (mile 25), there is a storm blowing in. He wants to continue, but he knows that if he does he probably will be riding in the rain, and he will still have to complete 13 miles back to camp, which is certainly no walk in the park. Travis decides to wait it out down by a pavilion, hoping to run into Sam.

Sam finally gets near the pavilion, dehydrated he quickly finds the bathroom. Earlier, Travis sent Sam a text message telling him that he should meet him by the pavilion. Sam has not checked his phone. And after drinking a bunch of water, he sees Travis standing on top of a picnic table, trying to get cell service on his phone. Sam approaches triumphantly and they happily greet one another.

Travis and Sam share stories from the trail. Sam assumes that Travis will want to continue the remaining 13 miles of the loop. Sam still plans to ride the road back to camp. Travis is tired and hungry and he isn't liking the potential for rain. He pitches the idea that ride the road north up to the small town of Loudonville. There they can hopefully find a bar with burgers and beer. After a brief bit of rain, hunkered down under the pavilion, they take off for a 3.5 mile road ride into town.

Loudonville is a handsome, small town. There are a few fast food joints on the outskirts of town, but they are hoping for something with more nutritional heft and more local flavor, and of course, beer. When they arrive downtown they spot a few potential watering holes; they quickly decide on the Mohican Tavern. A bar with food. There is a cute girl who welcomes them. She is a server who would seat them at her section. Strangely Sam asks, "can we sit at the bar?" So they sit at the bar and deal with a bartender who isn't the most personable. Or they wonder, maybe she's just stoned? Either way, they throw back three Yuenglings and devour their burgers and fries. The rain picks up substantially while they're inside. Eventually the rain subsides, and they decide to take off for another eight miles of road riding back to their camp.

After dinner. After the rain. Sam and Travis have a smoke on the patio.

Upon returning to a rather wet camp. They set out to find drier pieces of wood. Travis is a masterful outdoorsman who can certainly start a fire, even with less-than-perfect conditions. They talk about the merits of the teepee versus the log cabin configuration of kindling. After some work, they have a good fire going (with a hybrid of teepee and log cabin). Without any rain falling, and only the occasional dropping of water off of wet trees, they sit around the fire taking sips of tequila and eating mint flavored Newman's O's. They sip, snack, and chat until maybe 1:00a. They then retire to a dry tent. A few hours after bedtime, Sam awakes to Travis unzipping the tent. Travis is loudly vomiting, luckily outside of the tent. Sam remembers that Travis drank most of the flask of tequila. So the loud pangs of gut exodus made sense.

In the morning they wake up around 10:00a. They make coffee and hot breakfast cereal. They sit around the camp and talk and stretch and eat for a few hours. Sam doesn't have any interest in doing more riding. Travis does. After a few hours of hanging out, they pack up camp and make their way back to the cars. They have a good hug, then Sam departs for Columbus, and Travis heads back to the trail to do some more riding.

Travis and Sam pose for one last photo before they part ways.

I swallowed a bug: Another fine adventure in under six hours.

I biked to Vandalia, Ohio this evening, after hardcore snacking and napping, for the Vino and Vinyasa at Day Yoga led by my faithful yoga extraordinaire, Elisha. 13 miles on the Great Miami Trail, and a smattering of non-shouldered thruways, took me to to my first experience at Day's northern outpost on Dixie Drive.  Once again I beat google maps travel time by a comfortable 20%. 

The yoga was not hot, thankfully, and the white wine was not cold... but tastily cool, and mighty quenching after the warm, humid ride.  There was a delightful spread of relishes and confections, I withheld, choosing just wine and yoga... and water... for the next hour. 

Elisha runs a fine class -- not boring, not easy, and in the course of these directed movements and breaths I am always brought to a place closer to myself.  Several sips in (2.5 glasses), I was absolutely fine that we didn't cap things off with arm balances and headstands as would be expected from one of her typical core classes. 

Feeling good in the hood, amongst fellow yogis, we (I) commenced to pounding lukewarm wine and nutrient-rich goodies, and chatting it up about Alaska, Dayton area geography and folks' foreplanned vacays. 

Time to hit the road south. Dark now, I donned my helmet, avec $20 energizer headlamp, and burned the bike-mounted head and taillight. All downhill from here -- I'd gained about 230ft of elevation on the way up to V'dalia, of which the downward part I enjoyed as I cruised through the bugs and fog and thick summer's night air. 

Live live live - dead! as that bug went straight down my throat. The energizer LED allowed me to watch this innocent insect rapidly make its entry into my face, but really, feeling it hit the back of my throat was my first indication that this night life was now part of me. 

What a great ride! Maybe it was the booze, maybe it was the downslope grade or yoga mojo power, maybe it was the hospitable summery temps, but I just cranked and cranked and every crank asked for another. ...until I coasted by the lowhead dam just north of downtown where I simultaneously glimpsed a crescent moon alongside an evening planet and an apparent long-burning votive right at the crest of the dam.

I chilled there, typed out some of this here text, listened to the rushing water, and eventually changed into more going-to-town clothes; I had a mind to get another tasty beverage at the Barrel House.  That waterborn candle (and the moon and star above) continued to burn during my riverside rest.

My evening closed out sitting back in a comfy chair facing 3rd Street, feet propped up, and a session IPA in easy reach. This joint was cool and quiet and just right and made the final fifteen blocks home all the better.

Mohican Memorial

Sam and I met at Mohican Memorial State Forest for a mountain bike overnighter, me full-on loaded for a two-night bikepack, Sam with Amanda's borrowed bike and backpack with provisions for one night. 

Getting there on the saturday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend, I was happy to find I was able to reserve a backcountry site at the State Forest self-serve kiosk.  Park and Pack site #7.  We got on the trail mid-afternoon, hot and muggy and no wind.  Turns out though, hopping on the bike and and riding a few miles per hour generates a nice, cooling breeze.

Our search for ye ol' site #7 began early in the ride.  However poorly marked, it's only 0.3 miles from the trailhead.  It did not help that it's drawn on the wrong side of the trail on the State Forest map and that the "Site #7" sign along the trail had been knocked down.  We bumped down a horse trail/gas line right-of-way a few hundred feet and used our savvy awareness skills to find the site.

We set up the tent and off loaded most of the camping supplies.  With light and fast bikes, we headed down the trail in the prescribed counter-clockwise direction starting at approximately mile marker 14.  The trails were in excellent condition and the riding was great.  A lot of roots in some areas.  Not too killer with the climbs, at least for me.  There were some happy little rock gardens and small gnome population near one of them.


I few miles in I heard the holler from Sam to go on ahead and not wait.  I took him up on the offer and plowed forward. There was a section that was really steep!  I glanced down to my right briefly, but told myself to just keep my eyes forward.

The stretch before getting to the river bottom and the campground (about mile marker 20-25) was the sweetest stretch.  Nice downhill, ups and downs, not too many roots.

Made it to the campground, refilled water and the check-in booth and noticed big dark clouds moving in fast.  I asked the campground attendants about a weather radar because my phone didn't have service.  Sure enough, it looked as if it was coming my way.  After turning down the offer of a lift in one of those ladies' trucks, I decided to go down a park road a bit a hide under the big picnic shelter.

I chilled out, took the shoes and socks off, and eventually got cell signal.  The storms were skirting by to the north and west.  Maybe 20 minutes into my shelter-in-place, Sam, not necessarily knowing where I'd be, came down that road looking for drinking water, found it and me!

We weighed our options, consulted my local resource over the phone (Carl) and decided to head to town for burgers and beer then ride the road back to camp.  We had ridden about 10 miles of trail and it was getting well into the evening time. More trail riding would have been possible by me, but thought best to put it off until tomorrow.

It was a good choice, going to town to the Mohican Tavern, and riding back via road.  Back at camp we enjoyed fire, good conversation and some sippin' on the tequila.

...

After a slow process of coffee, breakfast and breaking down camp, we headed back to the vehicles.  Sam split out, and I decided to do a little more riding, this time loaded with the bikpacking gear.  I parked in the river bottom at the covered bridge (man, it was busy with visitors) and biked up the road that heads to the State Forest Service Center. Had to ask around where the mtn bike trail intersects up there because, once again, the map was not so accurate.

The author, mentally preparing for Day 2 riding.

It was a nice little ride with a whole lotta downhill.  Things got a little scary here and there at my speed picked up.  I tried to remember I was weighed down with a lot of gear, I'm not 20 anymore... and I can always replace brake pads.  I was very grateful for my hydraulic disc brakes!

Some thoughts overall on this go-around:

• The rig is feeling good and didn't feel too crazy heavy or unbalanced.  I took my Eureka! two person tent in "fast-pitch" setup (no, that's not a softball reference), which I had weighed out at 6 lbs.  Pretty heavy, but it was solid storm shelter for two of us.
• I had food enough for two people for 1.5 or 2 days.  Does that mean I had enough food for me for three or four days?  Didn't seem like it, but maybe... as long as Sam is there to feed me the occasional bar and hammergel.
• As far as water, I went through a lot.  I drank almost 3 liters in our Saturday 10 mile ride.  I had another 1.5 liter bottle on me, but didn't pass up the opportunity to refill my water bladder when I made it to the campground.  Definitely going to need water filtration capability in North Dakota this summer.
• Got a lil poison ivy on my forearm.  Watch out for that stuff!
• Just because I bring the flask of tequila, doesn't mean I need to drink all of the flask of tequila.

A hazard to leaving the helmet out overnight.

Another account of the same adventure is found here: http://exhanlin.blogspot.com/2016/06/mohicans-pains-and-gains.html

Adventures... they don't all gotta be big.  Mark met me for lunch last week during my work day, him on his bicycle, jetboil equipped, and me on the motorbike toting fresh fruit and salad.